The field of the invention generally pertains to garment protecting covers. The invention relates more particularly to a disposable protective cover for use when holding infants, particularly when holding an infant against a user""s shoulder to burp the infant. The protective cover has horizontally sectioned lower, middle and upper regions which cover and protect a user""s chest, shoulders, and upper back, respectively, and utilizes vertical creases to produce a concave configuration of at least the lower region for contouring to the user""s chest.
Oftentimes when holding a baby, especially a newborn infant, the baby will drool, stain, soil or otherwise dirty the clothes of a person holding the baby. In particular, babies are notorious for regurgitating foods on the shoulder of a parent or individual burping the baby after a meal. The cautious parent or other adult will therefore often place a small towel, tissue, cloth or other generally flexible sheet-like structure over one shoulder as a protective measure against such mishaps.
However, it is often common to reposition the baby from time to time from one shoulder to the other, to prevent fatigue on any one shoulder. This requires either the repositioning of the protective towel or cloth every time a shift is made, or using a second towel or cloth. In either case, the towels and cloths are simply slung over the shoulder without securing it in some manner to the user to keep it from falling off. Moreover, repositioning a single towel to the other shoulder while holding a baby can be an awkward endeavor which unnecessarily risks the safety of the baby. Because of these and other inconveniences associated with the use of such protective towels and cloths, parents oftentimes do not bother using them altogether.
Several prior art apparatuses, such as bibs and bib-like sheet structures are known which serve to provide a similar garment protecting function to that of the small towels and cloths used in a manner discussed above.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,568, a disposable bib is shown formed from two sheets of absorbent material and separated by perforations. Alternate sheets have a flap which may be released from one of the sheets and folded to overlie or underlie the other sheet. In this manner, a neck-receiving opening is formed between two retaining strips which are used to tie the bib to a user. Another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,527 disclosing a garment protector made of a flexible material and having neck portions 39 and 40 which are extendable around a user""s neck and fastened by snap fasteners. In both of these designs, minimal or modest coverage is provided to the shoulder areas due to the relatively narrow shoulder portions (see FIG. 1 in the ""527 patent, and FIG. 3 in the ""568 patent). However, because of the proximity of a baby""s head and mouth to the shoulder area when the baby is held against the shoulders, it is essential to completely cover the shoulder areas. Furthermore, because babies are typically held to face towards the back of a user, regurgitation of foods and excess drool from the baby""s mouth tend to reach the upper back of the user as well.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,710, another disposable bib is shown having a sheet-like structure dispensed from a roll, and having a neck portion 36 which is bounded by perforations 38 in a circular manner. Furthermore, the bib has a back extension perforation 40 and two shoulder perforations 42 which allow sufficient passage of the user""s head therethrough. While the ""710 patent arguably appears to provide protection to the upper back and shoulder areas of a user not provided in the ""568 and ""527 patents, it does not provide adequate means for controlling the coverage area to prevent curling of the sheet during use. Curling tendencies of sheets dispensed from rollers may be especially acute and may detract from the utility of providing garment protective coverage.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable garment-protecting cover which may be worn around the neck of a user for providing complete protective coverage of a user""s chest, shoulders, and upper back.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a disposable garment-protecting cover having three distinct regions for providing protective coverage of a user""s chest, shoulders, and upper back, respectively.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a disposable garment-protecting cover having a flexible and foldable sheet construction which is foldably transformable between a packaged configuration and a dispensed configuration.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a disposable garment-protecting cover having vertical creases which controls against curling by forming a concave configuration which contours to a user""s chest.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a simple and low cost disposable garment-protecting cover which is easily manufactured by conventional manufacturing methods.
The present invention is for a disposable garment-protecting cover for protectively covering a user""s upper torso when holding a baby thereagainst. The disposable garment-protecting cover has a sheet construction with front and back surfaces and comprises three regions: a lower region, middle region, and upper region. The lower region has a pair of opposing lower region side edges. The upper region is bifurcated into a pair of upper sections which are releasably securable to each other. And the middle region is between the upper and lower regions, and has a central aperture and a pair of shoulder sections on opposite sides of the central aperture. Each shoulder section has an outer side edge which is remotely positioned from the central aperture, and the bifurcation of the pair of upper sections allows passage through the upper region to the central aperture. The cover also comprises at least two vertical creases on the lower region forming at least three vertical sections thereof. The vertical creases angle the vertical sections toward the back surface of the lower region to form a substantially concave configuration thereof.
Furthermore, the sheet construction of the present invention may be dispensed from a dispenser, and is transformable between a packaged configuration in which the at least three vertical sections are collapsed in an overlapping folded manner along the at least two vertical creases and toward the back surface, and a dispensed configuration in which the at least three vertical sections are substantially unfolded from the packaged configuration to form a substantially concave configuration of the back surface of the lower region.
In this manner, when the disposable garment-protecting cover is donned with the user""s neck positioned through the aperture, the lower region positioned against the user""s chest, the upper region positioned against the user""s upper back, the pair of shoulder sections positioned over the user""s shoulders, and the bifurcated pair of upper sections releasably secured to each other, the substantially concave configuration of the back surface of the lower region substantially contours around the user""s chest.